Digital
Rusk Media launches new YouTube channel ‘BINGE’ for regional focused content
MUMBAI: The new age digital entertainment organization, Rusk Media, is all set to launch a new YouTube channel, titled ‘BINGE’, with an aim to create premium content for the regional markets. The link of the YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/c/Bingeoriginals/featured. This announcement comes after the strategic acquisition of infotainment platform, Digital Commentary, who will head content for this channel.
With an existing viewer base of over 30 million in the urban metros, Rusk media now gears up to provide quality content in regional languages with its new YouTube channel BINGE. Specifically targeted to tap viewers based in UP, Bihar and parts of Madhya Pradesh between the age group of 16-35 years, BINGE will produce fictional content in the form of short video stories and web series that will be distributed across its YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and other Social platforms. The content will have artists talking in the regional dialects and will cover topics that are localized and region specific.
Speaking on the launch of BINGE and the acquisition of Digital Commentary, Mayank Rusk Media CEO Mayank Yadav said, “With over 40 per cent of India’s smartphone users residing in the regional markets, the availability of premium entertainment content for those viewers on digital mediums has been skewed. To address this gap, we decided to launch BINGE that will focus on telling stories that are of interest to people in those regional markets, with popular dialects of Hindi language. Additionally, through advertiser integrated short form content on BINGE, we want to support the brands in reaching out to the regional audiences.”
“Founders of Digital Commentary, Aakash Kumar and Kshitiz Sudhakar come with a vast experience of creating medium and long format web shows and TV series for OTT platforms. Having driven successful shows on TVF, Sonly LIV, MX Player and TSP, Aakash and Kshitiz bring an earthy touch to the content, making it more relatable and hence, more engaging. Therefore, we roped in Digital Commentary to spearhead content for BINGE,” he further added.
Talking about this venture Binge creative director Kshitiz Sudhakar said,” With easy access to internet and smart phones, people have been turning to social media and content platforms for their regular dose of entertainment – be it in the metropolitan cities or the other towns. While the urban population has a lot of options for entertainment content on social media, viewers in the regional markets lack access to quality premium content. With BINGE we intend to address this problem, by making it one of India’s only platform that curates and produces content specific for the regional markets.”
Digital
Ethical AI must benefit society, not dominate it, says WFEB chief Sanjay Pradhan at IAA event
At Mumbai event, ethics expert urges businesses and governments to shape AI responsibly
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence may be racing ahead at lightning speed, but its direction must still be guided by human conscience. That was the central message delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, president of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), during the latest edition of IAA Conversations held in Mumbai.
The session was organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Artificial Intelligence Association of India (AIAI) in association with The Free Press Journal at the Free Press House on 7 March. Addressing a packed audience, Pradhan called for stronger ethical leadership to ensure AI remains a tool that benefits humanity rather than one that governs it.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies humanity has created,” Pradhan said. “It is unlocking breakthroughs in medicine, science and creativity at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
But he warned that the same technology carries serious risks. AI, he noted, can amplify disinformation faster than facts can travel, compromise privacy, deepen discrimination and disrupt millions of livelihoods. Referencing concerns raised by AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, Pradhan stressed that the real challenge is not whether AI will shape the world, but whether humans will shape it with ethics and wisdom.
Structuring his talk around four guiding questions, why, what, how and who, Pradhan introduced the audience to WFEB’s emerging AI Ethics Partnership, a global platform aimed at advancing responsible artificial intelligence. He outlined four priority concerns that demand urgent attention: disinformation, bias and discrimination, data privacy and job security.
To make the idea of ethical AI easier to grasp, Pradhan offered a simple metaphor. Ethical AI, he said, is like a three layered cake. The outer layer represents the visible value ethical AI creates for businesses and society. The middle layer is organisational culture that moves ethics from written codes to everyday practice. The innermost layer, however, is the most crucial, the conscience of individual leaders.
Drawing from Indian philosophical thought through WFEB co-founder Ravi Shankar, Pradhan noted that while artificial intelligence can reproduce stored knowledge, true intelligence is boundless and rooted in conscience, creativity and compassion. Practices such as breathwork and meditation, he suggested, can help leaders develop the calm clarity needed for ethical decision making.
The event also featured a discussion with Maninder Adityaraj Singh, chief of staff and head of innovation at Rediffusion Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Yash Johri, lawyer, Supreme Court of India.
Opening the session, IAA India chapter president Abhishek Karnani, highlighted the need for industries to understand and engage with AI responsibly.
“AI has to be befriended and understood,” added Rediffusion managing director and AIAI national convenor Sandeep Goyal. “Its ethical use will determine whether it becomes a friend or a foe.”
As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, Pradhan ended with a simple but powerful call to action. Businesses, governments and individuals must work together to ensure that the algorithms shaping the future reflect human values rather than just cold logic.
